The left-wing Podemos (We Can) party intends to attack Spanish elections next month with the party Sumar (Unite I add) of labor minister Yolanda Diat, Podemos general secretary Ione Belara said today, hours before the deadline for registering electoral combinations.

Podemos, the Socialist Party’s junior partner in the governing coalition, lost ground in local and regional elections held on 28 May. If Podemos and Sumar were to lose individually, polls show that the votes would be split, with fewer seats each.

“We will participate in the parliamentary elections together with Sumar, the decision has been made,” he said in a speech at the headquarters after asking the rank and file members of the party to vote on the issue.

However, Belara added that the two sides would still have to resolve some differences, most notably Sumar’s opposition to the candidacy of current Equality Minister Irene Montero.

Belara said Podemos would not accept a possible veto against “a comrade who pushed the feminist transformation further than anyone else,” adding that her party would still wait before signing the papers due by midnight today.

Montero was heavily criticized for the law, which contained a “loophole” allowing rapists to receive lighter sentences.

“We hope that we will not have to wait until the last minute to register the coalition,” Belara said. “An agreement can be reached in a very short time if there is the will on the part of Yolanda.”

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.